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#21

REACTION PAPER

Legaspi, Chole Eyvette D.

John Q.

10/12/15
1. Opinionated moral assessment of the movie.
2. Educated moral assessment of the movie.
3. Choose a character and determine his or her ethical principle.

The movie "John Q." is a 2002 american film directed by Nick Cassavetes. It
tackles about the social issue regarding the health care system of the United
States during that time, that gives us a clearer conception about the duties of
private administrators and public servants with respect to the ethical decision
they encounter in the daily execution of duties in communities they worked
for. The director explains the agony of John Archibald whose son has a cardiac
condition that requires immediate surgery. John and his wife Denise do not
have the sufficient money and health insurance to sustain the cost of the
operation, so the hospital choses to proceed with the surgery.
(1) I wonder why a hospital will refuse to offer free operation to save the life
of a twelve year old boy. Well the answer is simple, unlike public
administrations, Hope Memorial Hospital (HMH) is a private entity, and
private cooperations were established to make a profit. This what others
described as the real world or functional world. A world of budget,
deadlines to meet, accountability, and compliance. The hospital director
(Rebecca Payne) acted in a utilitarian way by thinking that assisting John Qs
son for free treatment will not do society any good due to millions of HIV
patients facing the same problem. John Qs son is only a modicum of the
health care problem faced by many. Utilitarian believes that the outcome of
any action has to be for the happiness of many. Rebecca Payne may be an
outcast to her community for refusing to offer free treatment to Johns son,
but her action may be justified as a functional and reasonable one.
(2)Are we thinking about medical care as a right or as a source of profit? If we
view it as a right, then health care can be thought of as analogous to public
education. In that case, each citizen has the right to a certain amount of
education/ medical care. A related consideration is the distinction between
medical care and health. What consumers want is health; what is available is
medical care. There is no way to avoid or completely control the risk that
medical care, even when delivered flawlessly, may not result in health.
People who receive poor or no medical care are sometimes healthy; others
who receive the very best medical care die. In considering medical care as a

right, then, one basis for determining how much of it should be available to
members of society might be equity. An equity approach relies on the
judgment that the system would be fair or equitable if criteria based on
individual need determined the amount of care available to each citizen.
(3) In the movie, John Quincy Archibald is a man who will stop at nothing to
look after his family. He goes into the hospital with locks, chains, and a
firearm to hold everyone inside hostage. In dealing with the police, John
reveals that all he wants is for his son to be put on the list to receive a new
heart. In the end, Mike does receive a heart and is restored to health, and
John is found guilty for holding the hospital hostage. John Q perfectly aligns
with the dramatistic perspective. John storms into a hospital, threatening
doctors, security guards, and patients with a gun. As such, John is guilty. The
concept of absolution of guilt explains that in order for the agents behaviour
to be excused, he or she must be justified thru supremacy and/or victimage.
John fits the concept for transcendence and victimage. Trancendence occurs
when the protagonist is following a higher calling. John is cornered, he
desperately holds the hospital hostage because he loves his son so much and
no one will listen to his pleas. His cause, his sons very life, is without a doubt
an honourable cause and a higher calling. Alternatively, Johns actions can be
viewed as victimage. Victimage involves the agent blaming someone or
something for his or her course of action. This happened when John blames
the American healthcare system for not caring about blue-collar families.

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